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1908 


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ILLUSTRATED  BY 

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Home 
A^ain  With  Me 


.IAMKS   WHITGOMB    RILKV 


ustratons 


B 


HOWARD  CHANDLER  CHRIST 


Home 
Again  With  Me 


bo 


, 

— — 


Home 
™  Again  With  Me 


James  Whitcomb  R 


Drawings  by 
Howard  Chandler   Christy 


Decorations  by  Franklin  Booth 


Indianapolis 
,.  The  Bobbs-Merrill   Company 


Copyright 

1908 
JAMES  WHITCOMB  Hi  LEY 


HIS  LOVE  OF  HOME 

"As  love  of  native  land,"  the  old  man  said, 
««Er  stars  and  stripes  a-vvavin'  overhead, 
Er  nearest  kith-and-kin,  er  daily  bread, 
A  Hoosier's  love  is  for  the  old  homestead." 


Home 
Again  With  Me 


13 


T'M  a-feelin'  ruther  sad, 

•*•      Per  a  father  proud  and  glad 

As  /  am — my  only  child 

Home,  and  all  so  rickonciled! — 

Feel  so  strange-like,  and  don't  know 

What  the  mischief  ails  me  so! — 


•^      h  " 


Fer  a  father  proud  and  glad 
As  I  am — my  only  child 


'Stid  o'  bad,  I  ort  to  be 
Feelin'  good  pertickerly— 
Yes,  and  extry  thankful,  too,— 
'Cause  my  nearest  kith-and-kin, 
My  Elviry's  schoolin'  's  through, 
And  I'  got  her  home  ag'in— 
Home  ag'in  with  me! 


My  Elviry's  schoolin'  's  through,       fj I /> 
And  1'  got  her  home  ag'in  — 


Same  as  ef  her  mother'd  bin 
Livin',  I  have  done  my  best 
By  the  girl,  and  \vatchfulest; 
Nussed  her — keerful'  as  I  could — 
From  a  baby,  day  and  night,— 
Dravvin'  on  the  neighberhood 
And  the  women-folks  as  light 
As  needsessity  'u'd  'low — 
'Cept  in  "teethin',"  onc't,  and  fight 
Through  black-measles 


Same  as  ef  her  mother'd  bin      /, 


Livin',  I  have  done  my  best 


"s^v£i 


Don't  know  now 
How  we  ever  saved  the  child! 
Doc  bed  give  her  up,  and  said 
(As  I  stood  there  hy  the  hed 
Sort  o'  foolin'  with  her  hair 
On  the  hot  wet  piller  there) 
"\Vuz  no  use!" — And  at  them-air 
Very  words  she  waked  and  smiled — 
Yes,  and  knoived  me.     And  that's  where 
I  hroke  down,  and  simply  jes 
Bellered  like  a  boy — I  guess! — 


Don't  know  now 
How  we  ever  saved  the  child 


Women  claimed  I  did,  but  I 
Allus  helt  I  didn't  cry 
But  vvuz  laughin', — and  I  ivuz,— 
(Men  don't  cry  like  women  does!) 
Well,  right  then  and  there  I  felt 
*T  'uz  her  mother's  doin's,  and, 
Jes  like  to  myse'f,  I  knelt, 
Whisperin*  "/  understand." .   .  . 


Women  claimed  I  did,  but  I 
Allus  helt  I  didn't  cry 


So  I've  raised  her,  you  might  say, 
Stric'ly  in  the  narrer  way 
'At  her  mother  walked  therein- 
Net  so  quite  religiously ', 
Yit  still  strivin'-like  to  do 
Ever' thing  a  father  could 
Do  he  knowed  the  mother  would 
Ef  she'd  lived. — And  now  all's  through 
And  I'  got  her  home  ag'in- 
Home  ag'in  with  me! 


^ 

'  — -  '     r"Tvrt£- 


Vit  still  strivin'-like  to  do 
Ever' thing  a  father  could 


And  I'  bin  so  lonesome,  too — • 
Here  o'  late,  especially, — 
"Old  Aunt  Abigail,"  you  know, 
Ain't  no  company; — and  so 
Jes  the  hired  hand,  you  see- 
Jonas — like  a  relative 
More — sence  he  come  here  to  live 
With  us,  nigh  ten  year'  ago. 


"  Old  Aunt  Abigail,"  you  know, 


Still  he  don't  count  much,  you  know, 
In  the  line  o'  company — 
Lonesome,  'peared-like,  'most  as  me! 
So,  as  /  say,  I'  bin  so 
Special  lonesome-like  and  blue, 
With  Elviry,  like  she's  bin, 
'Way  so  much,  last  two  er  three 
Year'.— But  now  she's  home  ag'in — 
Home  ag'in  with  me! 


rc^ 


Still  he  don't  count  much,  you  know, 
In  the  line  o'  company 


Driv  in  fer  her  yisterday, 

Me  and  Jonas — gay  and  spry,— 

\\  c  jes  cut  up,  all  the  way! 

,  and  sung! — tel,  hlame  it!  I 
Keyed  my  voice  up  'bout  as  high 
As  when — days  'at  I  vvuz  young— 
"Buckwheat-notes"  \vuz  all  they  sung. 
Jonas  bantered  me,  and  'greed 
To  sing  one  'at  town-folks  sing 
Down  at  Split  Stump  'er  High-Low- 


J  Du,,^  Cfc»i«:.  1 


Jonas  bantered  me,  and  'greed 
To  sing  one  'at  town-folks  sing 


Some  new  "ballet,"  said,  'at  he'd 
Learnt — about  "The  Grapevine  Swing." 
And  when  be  quit,  /  begun 
To  chune  up  my  voice  and  run 
Through  the  what's-called  "scales"  and  "do- 
Sol-me-rays"  I  ust  to  know- 
Then  let  loose  old  favor/lte  one, 
"Hunters  o'  Kentucky!"     My! 
Tel  I  thought  the  boy  would  die! 
And  we  both  laughed. 


Yes,  and  still 

Heerd  more  laughin',  top  the  hill; 
Fer  we'd  missed  Elviry's  train, 
And  she'd  lit  cut  'crosst  the  fields— 
Dewdrops  dancin'  at  her  heels,— 
And  cut  up  old  Smoots's  lane 
So's  to  meet  us.     And  there  in 
Shadder  o'  the  chinkypin, 
With  a  danglin'  dogwood-bough 
Bloomin'  'bove  her — See  her  now! — 


And  cut  up  old  Smoots's  lane 
So's  to  meet  us 


Sunshine  sort  o'  flickerin'  down 
And  a  kind  o'  laughin'  all 
Round  her  new  red  parasol, 
Try'n'  to  git  at  her! — well — like 
/jumped  out  and  showed  'em  how! — 
Yes,  and  jes  the  place  to  strike 
That-air  mouth  o'  hern — as  sweet 
As  the  blossoms  breshed  her  brow 
Er  sweet-williams  round  her  feet — 


White  and  blushy,  too,  as  she 
"Howdy'd"  up  to  Jonas  and 
Jieuked  her  head  and  waved  her  hand. 
"Hey!"  says  I,  as  she  bounced  in 
The  spring-wagon,  reachin'  back 
To  give  me  a  lift,  "whoop-eel" 
I-says-ee,  "you're  home  agy in- 
Home  agin  with  me!" 


<k  -»    ""*•••  »/"•      -.    -j^ir  ~<. 

^ 

N' 


I-says-ee,  "  you're  home  ag'in  — 
Home  ag'in  with  me!" 


Lord !  how  wild  she  wuz  and  glad, 
Gittin'  home! — and  things  she  had 
To  inquire  about,  and  talk— 
Plowin',  planting  and  the  stock- 
News  o'  neighberhood;   and  how 
Wuz  the  Deem-girls  doin'  now, 
Sence  that-air  young  chicken-hawk 
They  was  "tamin"'  soared  away 
With  their  settin'-hen,  one  day?— 
(Said  she'd  got  Mame's  postal-card 
'Bout  it,  very  day  'at  she 
Started  home  from  Bethany.) 


And  got  hack,  and  goin'  to  'ply 
Per  school-license  by  and  by 


How  vvuz  pro-duce — eggs,  and  lard? — 
Er  wuz  stores  still  claimin*  "hard 
Times,"  as  usual?     And,  says  she, 
Troubled-like,  "  How's  Deedie— sayp 
Sence  pore  child  e-loped  away 
And  got  back,  and  goin'  to  'ply 
Per  school-license  by  and  by— 
And  where's  'Lijy  workin'  at? 
And  how's  'Aunt'  and  « Uncle  Jake'? 
How  wuz  'Old  Maje' — and  the  cat.' 
And  wuz  Marthy's  baby  fat 
As  his  'Humpty-Dumpty'  ma?— 


^.Ji 


Er  wuz  stores  still  claimin'  "hard 
Times,"  as  usual  ? 


Sweetest  thing  she  ever  saw! 

Must  run  'crosst  and  see  'em,  too, 

Soon  as  she  turned  in  and  got 

Supper  fer  us — smokin'-hot— 

And  the  'dishes'  all  wuz  through.— 

Sicb  a  supper!     W'y,  I  set 

There  and  et,  and  et,  and  et!— 

Jes  et  on,  tel  Jonas  he 

Pushed  his  chair  back,  laughed,  and  says, 

"I  could  walk  his  log!" 


And  we 

All  laughed  then,  tel  'Viry  she 
Lit  the  lamp — and  I  give  in!— 
Riz  and  kissed  her:     "Heaven  bless 
You!"  says  I — "you're  home  ag'in— 
Same  old  dimple  in  your  chin, 
Same  white  apern,"  I-says-ee, 
"Same  sweet  girl,  and  good  to  see 
As  your  mother  ust  to  be,— 
And  I'  got  you  home  ag'in— 

Home  ag'in  with  me!"  .  .  . 


I  turns  then  to  go  on  by'er 
Through  the  door — and  see  her  eyes 
Both  wuz  swimmin',  and  she  tries 
To  say  somepin' — can't— and  so 
Grabs  and  hugs  and  lets  me  go.  .  .  . 
Noticed  Aunty'd  lit  the  tire 
In  the  settin'-room  and  gone 
Back  where  her  p'serves  wuz  on 

B'ilin'  in  the  kitchen I 

Went  out  on  the  porch  and  set, 
Thinkin'-like. 


And  see  her  eyes 
Both  wuz  swimmin' 


• 


And  by  and  by 
Heerd  Elviry,  soft  and  low, 
At  the  organ,  kind  o'  go 
A  mi-anderin'  up  and  down 
With  her  fingers  'mongst  the  keys— 
" Vacant  Chair"  and  "Old  Camp- 

GrounY' 

Dusk  was  moist-like,  with  a  breeze 
Lazin'  round  the  locus'-trees   .   .   .   . 
Heerd  the  bosses  champin',  and 
Jonas  feedin' — and  the  hogs- 
Yes,  and  katydids  and  frogs— 
And  a  tree-toad,  som'er's 


Yes,  and  katydids  and  frogs 
And  a  tree-toad,  som'er's 


• 


Heerd 

Also  whipperwills. — My  land! — 
All  so  mournful  ever'where— 
Them  out  here,  and  her  in  there, — - 
That  the  whole  thing  railly  'peared 
'Most  like  'tendin'  Services! 
Anyway,  I  must  'a*  jes 
Kind  o'  drapped  asleep,  I  guess; 
'Cause  when  Jonas  must  'a'  passed 
Me,  a-comin'  in,  I  knowed 
Nothin'  of  it — yit  it  seemed 
Sort  o'  like  I  kind  o'  dreamed 
'Bout  him,  too,  a-slippin'  in, 


And  a-watchin'  back  to  see 
Ef  I  iuuz  asleep — and  then 
Passin'  in  where  'Viry  wuz — 
And  where,  I  declare,  it  does 
'Pear  to  me  I  heerd  him  say, 
Wild  and  glad  and  whisperin'- 
'Peared-like  heerd  him  say,  says-ee, 
"Ah!   I'  got  you  home  ag'in— 
Home  ag'in  witn  me!" 


' 


t3t 


Ah!  I  'got  you  home  ag'in — 
Home  ag'in  with  me! 


r-'Vs 


Home 


Again  With  Me 


JAM1-S   WHITCOMB 


With 
Illustrations 


By 

HOWARD  CHANDLER  CHRISTY 


